Sarees: Upkeep and Care

29/08/18

Sarees easily make it to the top list of attires that add to your beauty for a perfect occasion. From weddings in the family to a religious ceremony in the house, a cocktail party or a casual gathering at home, Sarees can make wardrobe choices simpler, make you look dainty, add to your versatility and reflect your personality in more ways than one.

One of the problems of owning a saree is the upkeep of the nine yards that is anything but easy and can leave you hassled if you’ve not got a reference list to go by.

Save the many cents you spent on owning those exquisite designer sarees. Maybe our suggestive list can help you keep them intact!

1.Let ‘em breathe: Air them often. Bring them out from your wardrobe every now and then, carefully unfold them and lay them on your bed, across your room to air them lest they develop a musty smell. This is a particularly painful problem during and after the monsoons. If you’re looking to wear a saree in the rainy season, be sure to pull it out a few hours ahead and air it well before your drape it on!

2.Redo the folds: As you put them out to air, redo the folds differently before you put them back. Folding the sarees along the same lines time and again can cause the fabric to tear and fray in places where it's been sitting for long. This also causes creases in some specific materials, and these creases are tough to hide despite repeated ironing.

3.Ironing: Be sure to use a spare piece of cloth instead of putting the hot iron directly over the saree. This is specifically true for those silk beauties, heavily embroidered sarees, phulkaris and a few other delicate pieces that are laced with careful handiwork. You don’t want to lose the talented handicraft pieces to a mere iron that was rather too warm!

4.Change those covers: If you’ve been wise enough to invest in good quality saree covers, go an extra mile to change it often. Sarees usually last for years on end but those covers seem to stick around, whether or not they continue to serve the purpose. Change the covers before they’re overworked, reeking of a stale smell or frayed at the zip liners and threatening to damage the sarees as you zip them close!

5.Dry Clean: When picking out a beautiful saree in the midst of your shopping spree, make a well-informed choice to be sure that the gorgeous purchase comes with a price tag of high maintenance. Very few sarees can be washed at home: whether in the machines or by hand. Most often, sarees are best given to the laundries, dry cleaned and ironed in neat folds with butter paper linings that make them shine like new. Specific sarees that should necessarily be dry cleaned are those that are made on silk, net or satin.

6.Fresh over Naphthalene: When placing your well-folded sarees carefully in the cupboard, avoid overdoing those naphthalene balls. While they keep bugs away, they also lace the sarees with an inherent smell that is tough to wash off and you don’t want people around you to know what you’re wearing was stashed off for a while until it came out to see the light of day!

7.Seasonal change: Another one like those monsoon tips is to keep your cupboard / wardrobe ajar by the night during seasonal shift. This allows the moisture (especially during humid summers or during the rainy season) to be let off without settling over your clothes for rather long.

Specific things to keep in mind with specific material/ fabric:

Chiffon or georgette: Avoid pinning it too tight as you drape these nine yards, they’re so delicate that a little tug might cause it to be overstretched from the point where it's pinned and you’ll be left with an oddly torn saree and also the embarrassment that’ll come along!

Tussar or organza: Fold the sarees neatly, don’t hang them up in hangers and line them along. They tend to lose their shape which affects the way they fall as you drape them the next time you put them on.

Cotton: Starch them as you wash them, but avoid starching in every wash. Also, keep away from direct sunlight to be sure that the material retains its original shade instead of running fader by a tone or two.

Satin: Be extra careful to not drop anything on these pieces, as the stains leave a mark even though the chunk of it might fade.

Keep the sarees carefully and well, because they’re the one garment that never fades out, never dulls you down and will always be rotated in the latest trends and fashion!